The Sicilian girl: a movie about a searing drama and true event

August 4, 2010 1:00 pm

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August 17, 2010 11:30 pm

The U.S. theatrical premiere of Marco Amenta’s THE SICILIAN GIRL, begins on Wednesday, August 4. The film is based on the true story of Rita Atria, a 17-year-old Sicilian whose father and brother were both Mafia members (and victims), who breaks the vow of silence – omerta – that enshrouds her world. In 1991, during a period when the Mafia was under increasing pressure from the Italian judicial system, Rita gives evidence to famed anti-Mafia judge Paolo Borsellino. Drawing upon the young woman’s extensive diaries, Marco Amenta tells her story, beginning in Sicily in 1985 when, as a small child, she experienced her beloved father as a respected member of the community – a man to whom neighbors would turn for help when a rapacious landlord orders their eviction. Soon after, he’s shot dead in the sun-drenched village square as his daughter looks on. Six years later, her brother is murdered. In court, Rita’s words are denounced as “the ravings of a fanatical adolescent bent on revenge.” But are they? Amenta underlines the extraordinary courage of his protagonist by including a documentary glimpse of the real-life Rita during the film’s final moments.

Trailer with English subtitles

THE SICILIAN GIRL will have a 2-week engagement, August 4-17, at Film Forum, West Houston Street (W. of 6th Avenue), with screenings daily at 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00.

Filmmaker Marco Amenta has made several documentaries about the Sicilian Mafia, including one on Rita Atria’s story, ONE GIRL AGAINST THE MAFIA: DIARY OF A SICILIAN REBEL, which had its U.S. theatrical premiere at Film Forum in 2002, and THE GHOST OF CORLEONE (2006), about the manhunt for Bernardo Provenzano, the capo di tutti capi (boss of all bosses).

An enlightening factual and atmospheric account of large-scale corruption and individual courage. – Sunday Times (Australia)

Highly recommended. Engrossing. As entertaining as any Hollywood thriller.” – The Dominion Post (New Zealand)

THE SICILIAN GIRL (2008, 110 mins.) Directed by Marco Amenta. Produced by Raphael Berdugo, Tilde Corsi, Gianni Romoli, Simonetta Amenta, Marco Amenta. Written by Marco Amenta & Sergio Donati. Director of Photography: Luca Bigazzi. Editor: Mirco Garrone. Cast: Veronica D’Agostino (Rita), Gérard Jugnot (the Judge), Miriana Faja (young Rita), Marcello Mazzarella (Don Michele), Mario Pupella (Don Salvo). Italy/France. In Italian with English subtitles. A Music Box Films release.

Film Forum

The Leopard and Martin Scorsese in Cannes

Martin Scorsese has made a habit of bringing his favorite older movies to Cannes, last year with 1948′s The Red Shoes, this year with the Burt Lancaster period drama The Leopard, which won the festival’s Palme d’Or in 1963.

Directed by Luchino Visconti, it’s a story set in 1860s Sicily amid the unification of the previously divided states of Italy. Lancaster plays a popular, aging aristocrat, Don Fabrizio Corbera,who sees the need for change, but laments the passing of his era. Two young lovers, (Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon), inspire him to welcome the changes. They also remind him painfully of his lost youth.

It’ s a character study — a long one. This was the 3 hour 5 minute Italian version, restored beautifully. The work was sponsored by Gucci and overseen by Scorsese’s preservation group The Film Foundation, and is remarkably beautiful. Brilliant on the big screen.

There are extended, immersive scenes of wealth and decadence, including a final third set at a lavish ball that, while impressive in its scale and attention to detail, though the narrative momentum is glacial. This is not a movie of suspense or intensity. It’s about stories, and conversations, a meditation on one man looking back at a life, hoping it was well lived, and wondering what will become of the those who depend on him when he is gone.

The Leopard requires patience, and arguably could be more emotionally effective at a shorter length, but still contains great performances by all three leads.

Scorsese introduced it at the Debussy Theater as ” one of the greatest film’s I’ve ever seen, and it’s a film I live by. Every day, it’s a part of my life.”

Source: www.usatoday.com

Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy at Open Roads

June 6, 2010
3:30 pm	to	5:30 pm
September 14, 2010
6:30 pm	to	8:30 pm

Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy  will be shown at the Walter Reade Theater at the Lincoln Center  during the “Open Roads”: New Italian Cinema series this year.

Actor John Turturro visits his ancestors’ Sicily, taking the audience on a personal tour of traditions, his family’s origins and even the local pastries. But the real object of his journey is to research a prospective film set in the world of the island’s unique puppet theater, represented by one of its last practitioners, Mimmo Cuticchio, who teaches Turturro some of the techniques of his art. A moving and revealing portrait of a Sicily little known to outsiders, and shot during preparations for the Sicilian Day of the Dead, the film develops into a reflection on the relationship between death and theatricality, reinforced through a series of encounters with contemporary Sicilians, including the author Andrea Camilleri and prince Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi di Lampedusa.

Walter Reade Theater at the Lincoln Center
165 West 65th Street
New York, NY 10023
Phone: (212) 875-5610

Baaria at the Lincoln Center

June 7, 2010
8:00 pm	to	11:00 pm

Baaria can be finally watched at the Walter Reade Theater at the Lincoln Center in New York Monday June 7 at 8PM.
This is the only showing of the film Baaria during the “Open Roads”: New Italian Cinema series this year.

After La Sconosciuta (The Unknown Woman) Giuseppe Tornatore, the Oscar-winning director of Cinema Paradiso, returns to Open Roads with his most personal film, set in his hometown Bagheria, just outside of Palermo. This Sicilian saga spans several decades with a multitude of characters, and involves politics, sex, poverty, dreams, and, of course, cinema. With newcomers Francesco Scianna and Margareth Madè, who recently played the role of Sophia Loren in a TV movie. The film, in which the dialogue is mostly in Sicilian dialect, premiered at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month last year.

Walter Reade Theater @ Lincoln Center
65th St Transverse
New York, 10023
Phone: (212) 875-5600

Dear Sister: Letters Home to Sicily from Wartime America

May 26, 2010
6:00 pm	to	8:00 pm

A special event at the Italian American Museum in New York City to meet Pauline M. Spatafora, the author of Dear Sister: Letters Home to Sicily from Wartime America. A unique insight into the lives of Italians and Italian Americans during the tumultuous World War II Period and based on actual letters written by the author’s mother to her aunt in Sicily. This is a book that will touch everyone regardless of country of origin. This is a voyage that is not only literal but symbolic for Anna, the young woman away from family and friends – embarking on a journey filled with surprising twists.

About the Author:
Pauline M. Spatafora has had extensive experience in Corporate Management. (Director of Housing for Cornell University Medical College.) She has a background in theater, dance and music, and as the former president of P. S. Communications, designed and taught specialized programs in Communication Skills, Speech & Accent Correction and numerous workshops for Health care Professionals. For the past twenty-three years she has been a Professor of English at CUNY. Education: undergraduate studies at Queens college and graduate degree at New York University. Pauline has written three books: Proper Pronunciation Made Easy, The Absent Mother-A Psycho literary study of Virginia Woolf, and her latest, Dear Sister a book of letters from her mother in America to her aunt in Sicily during the tumultuous World War Two Period.

Italian American Museum
155 Mulberry Street
New York, NY 10013
(Suggested Donation of $5 per person)

Seating is limited
To reserve a place for this event please call the
Italian American Museum at (212) 965-9000
or email: info@italianamericanmuseum.org

Sandra Virlinzi @ Daily 235 in New York City

May 2, 2010 1:00 am

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June 30, 2010 1:00 am

A Sicilian artist exhibits in New York @ Daily 235 in New York City. Born in Catania, Sandra Virlinzi lives and works between New York. Soon after completing her studies in Rome, she moves to Milan.

From 1995 to 2005 she joins the group “Ultrapop” and shows her work in various exhibitions of contemporary art in Italy and abroad. At the same time she teams up with the Milan Studio Atelier Mendini, she produces their website and develops a few design project with the studio’s graphic team. In April 2006 she inaugurates her fourth solo exhibition at the Fabio Paris gallery in Brescia and during the summer of 2006, in Catania, she organizes the group exhibition “Deck Seat Chairs” for Vulcanology, International Festival of Music and Art. The following year in the Contemporary Art Pavillion in Milan she exhibits her first experiments with trydimentional research, the sculpture puppets and the picture boxes.

While large companies like Yoox, Diesel, Replay and Swatch support her, sponsor her and commission various works of image application and graphics for communication projects, her work is exhibited in the Italian edition of the most important contemporary Art Fairs. Sandra has produced animation, textile prints, stuffed puppets, ceramics, tapestries and all kinds of experiments with every day objects. Since 2007 she has been working with Superego Design, a group of young merchants and producers of design objects.

Website: www.freakfriends.it

Daily 235
@ 235 Elizabeth Street | New York, NY 10012 | 212.334.9728
Mon – Sat 12 PM – 8 PM | Sunday 12 PM – 7 PM

The Marcello Giordani Foundation

May 7, 2010
6:00 pm	to	9:00 pm

On May 7th, 2010 Metropolitan Opera star Marcello Giordani will host a fundraising dinner and concert at which time he will launch the Marcello Giordani Foundation, a not for profit organization dedicated to assist and support promising young opera singers. The foundation, founded by Mr. Giordani, was created to encourage and enable young talented singers from around the world to pursue and achieve their career goals and transition onto the professional opera stage. The concert and dinner will take place on May 7th, 2010, at the New York Athletic Club, 180 Central Park South, starting at 6 pm.

Under the guidance of Marcello Giordani, the Foundation will establish, organize and sponsor master classes, seminars, and summer programs in the U.S. and abroad, as well as provide encouragement, training opportunities, career assistance and financial support, including scholarships and awards to promising and talented young singers. Many of them will be the great singers of tomorrow, and it is with them that the future of opera resides. It is the goal of the Foundation to contribute actively to their success.

The event will begin with a concert featuring Marcello Giordani and handpicked young talented singers from Europe and the United States: Daniela Pedi, soprano (Italy), Heather Gallagher, mezzo soprano (Miami), Dario Russo, bass (Italy), Steven LaBrie, baritone (Philadelphia), Robyn Lamp, soprano (Miami), and Sabina Kim (New York). At the piano will be Maestro Elda Laro, musical coach at the Teatro Massimo Bellini – Catania.

At the end of the concert, Mr. Giordani will present The Marcello Giordani Lifetime Achievement Award to legendary soprano Magda Olivero in her centennial year, connected with us from her home in Milano. Madame Olivero’s career and artistic accomplishments will be presented by Metropolitan Opera Star Aprile Millo.

After the award ceremony, Mr. Giordani will introduce the staff and honorary board members of the Foundation who will take part in a question and answer session with journalists and members of the audience.

The evening will conclude with a fundraising gala dinner.

For information call 347-703-5546 or write to mgfevents@gmail.com

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Roberto Scarcella Perino Piano Concert at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ in NYC

April 30, 2010
6:30 pm	to	8:30 pm

Born in Messina, Italy, Roberto Scarcella Perino has been the recipient of very important honors and awards, including an International Competition for Children‘s opera and the Musical Analysis International Competition N. Slonimskij. He has written four operas: Verdi, Merli and Cucú (libretto by Gustavo Marchesi), presented in Busseto – Teatro Verdi, A caval donato (libretto by Flora Gagliardi) presented in Messina – Teatro Vittorio Emanuele, Pisa – Teatro Verdi, and New York – Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò of New York University, and Blackout (libretto by Roberta Faroldi), presented in Tarrytown (NY) Music-hall, in Messina – Teatro Savio and Turin – Piccolo Regio, Paolo e Virginia presented last November at Casa Italiana and two ballets: Colapesce and Constellations in collaboration with choreographer Aaron Severini from the NYC ballet. Roberto holds degrees in Piano from the Conservatory Corelli, where he has studied with Sonja Pahor and in Composition from the Conservatory Martini. He also studied Composition with Azio Corghi in Rome at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Milan at the Accademia Petrassi. He graduated at the University of Bologna in Musicology and taught Music Analysis at the Arturo Toscanini Foundation in Parma. He studied conducting at the Julliard School of Music with Vincent La Selva. He has written music for theater, choir, chamber ensemble, and for children’s productions, and has done orchestrations of numerous works. He is also a Language Lecturer at NYU and in the NYU Summer in Florence program teaches an Italian Opera class. Since last May he was nominated Scholar-in-Residence at the American Institute for Verdi Studies.

When: April 30, 2010 @ 6:30PM
Where: Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ @ NYU

24 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10011

Performance by the winners of IBLA Grand Prize

April 28, 2010
6:00 pm	to	8:00 pm

The program at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ includes works by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Wagner, Prokofiev, Bartok, Liszt, Ravel, Puccini, Mascagni, Tschaikowski, Dvorak, Bizet and Beethoven.

The IBLA Foundation in New York City organizes an annual music competition for pianists, singers, instrumentalists and composers which takes place in Ragusa Ibla, Italy. Winners have been presented in such venues as Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Tokyo Opera City Hall, the Tchaikovsky Bolshoi Hall in Moscow as well as other prestigious venues in Canada, Europe, Russia and the USA.

When: April 28, 6:00pm

Where:
New York University
Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò
24 West 12th Street
New York, NY 10011
Phone: (212) 998-8739
Fax: (212) 995-4012
casa.italiana@nyu.edu
www.CasaItalianaNYU.org

The Agave Travel Creative -Greek theater package

The Agave Travel Creative -Greek theater package- features a 3 day/2 night stay in Ortigia (the historical center of Siracusa) in a newly restored local apartment. The perfect setting to enjoy the sea + sun, history + culture, food + wine of Sicily while getting the chance to experience the ancient Greek theater in action during this years’ cycle of classical Greek plays, featuring both Sophocles’ -Ajax- and Euripides’ -Phaedra- running from May 8 through June 20, 2010.

Agave Travel Creative is a slow travel trip planner based in the ancient city of Siracusa on the southeast Mediterranean coast of Sicily. They position this small receptive agency as a “cultural concierge for the creative traveler”.

Program includes:

• #2 night accommodations in local apartment in the heart of the Ortigia Historical Center
• Private Double Rooms with Full Bathrooms, A/C and Shared Kitchen / Dining / Living Room Space
• #2 tickets(assigned seating) for Greek Theater performance of choice. Includes private driver for round trip transport to/from the performance
• Siracusa Guided Tour of either Archaeological Park or Ortigia Historical Center
• After-Show Sicilian Culinary Orientation Dinner
• On-site Cultural Concierge for local assistance

Program optionals:

• Extra night accommodations / Additional shows
• Catania Airport Transfers (one way or round-trip)
• Sicilian Cooking Class / Food Market Tour & Tasting
• Scuba Diving / Sailing Excursions
• Sicily Winery Tour & Tastings
• Hiking, Climbing and Cycling Adventures
• Local Excursions & Day Trips

Dates:

• Available during the 2010 Siracusa Greek Theater performances running from: May 8 through June 20, 2010. A full calendar and detailed information on the shows visit: www.indafondazione.org

Cost:

• 300 Euros per person for a minimum of #2 guests in Double Room accommodations.
• Single Rooms available for a supplemental fee

For Sicily Guide readers, The Agave Travel Creative offers:

• 10% discount on the Greek Theater Package/Siracusa Experience (as proposed)
• 20% discount on on any Optional Add-on Activities(to the current package) such as: Cooking Classes, Food Market Tours & Tastings, Scuba Diving, Sailing Excursions, Rock Climbing/Hiking or Biking Adventures, or other Sicily Excursions/Day Trips taking place during the same time period (May 8th – June 20th).
• 20% discount on any Customized Trip Proposals taking place during the same period (May 8th – June 20th).

For more information or reservations, please email info@agavetravelcreative.com or visit www.agavetravelcreative.com. Do not forget to mention Sicily Guide to receive your discount.

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